Beach chairs



E. H. GRUBER Feb. 26, 1957 BEACH CHAIRS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 25, 1953 INVENTOR. Elififlllfiei; Q1? d A TTORNE YS Feb. 26, 1957 E. H. GRUBER 2,782,838

BEACH CHAIRS Filed Sept. 25, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY ism-(.21

ATTORNEYS.

E. H. GRUBER BEACH CHAIRS Feb. 26, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 25, 1953 INVENTOR.

E'lz'flbr er, BY @Ml ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent BEACH CHAIRS Eli H. Gruber, Malvem, Pa.

Application September 25, 1953, Serial No. 382,435

1 Claim. (Cl. 155-153) This invention relates to beach chairs. More especially, it has reference to beach chairs of the low or back rest type.

The chief aim of my invention is to provide a beach chair of the kind particularly referred to, which affords the user the utmost comfort in a semi-reclining position with his or her back well braced and the knees supported from beneath when the legs are outstretched; which is not easily upset; which is collapsible into a small compass for convenience of carriage or storage; and which, withal, lends itself to ready. manufacture in quantity at small cost from light thinwalled metallic tubing.

Other objects and attendant advantages will appear from the following detailed description of the attached drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a beach chair constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 shows the chair in side elevation.

Fig. 3 shows how the chair is to be used.

Figs. 4 and 5 are views corresponding to Fig. 2, showing two difierent ways in which the chair can be collapsed for convenience of carriage or storage.

Fig. 6 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3 showing how the chairs can be used as a rocker.

Fig. 7 shows the lower or seat component of the chair in top plan.

As herein exemplified, my improved beach chair comprises two main components, to wit, a seat frame and a back frame, these being comprehensively designated by the reference numerals 10 and 11, respectively. As shown, the seat frame is integrally fashioned from a single length of bar metal, preferably of thin-walled aluminum tubing with a rear cross portion 12, side portions 13, and with downward and rearward retroversions 14 in continuation of'said side portions to serve as supporting runners which diverge rearwardly relative to each other as best seen in Fig. 7. The runners 14 extend rearwardlyto a considerable distance beyond the cross portion 12 of the seat frame, and the side port-ions 13 are in rearwardly declining acute angular relationship to the runners 14 with which they merge through smooth half circle roundings 1 5 at the front of the chair. The seat frame 10 is reinforced by a supplemental cross bar 16 likewise of metal tubing whereof the flattened ends are made fast by rivets or screws 17 to the roundings adjacent the tops of the latter.

The back frame 1 1 of the chair is integrally fashioned, in turn, from a single length of metal tubing to U-shaped configuration with a cross bar 18 and obtuse angular side portions 19. The back frame 11 is connected to the seat frame 10 by a pair of brace links 20 whereof the opposite ends are pivoted respectively at 21 and 22 to the side portions 19 and 13 of said frames at substantially equal distances from the cross members 18 and 12. Accordingly, the back is foldable downwardly upon the seat either as shown in Fig. 4 or in Fig. 5, as later on more fully explained, with the result that the chair requires but a small amount of space for storage purposes. Secured to the cross bar 12 of the seat frame 10 in laterally spaced relation, by rivets or screws 23, are rearwardly open clips 24 which are adapted to receive the cross bar 18 of the back frame 11 to hold said frame upright as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, during use of the chair.

Spanned crosswise between the side portions 13 and between the cross bars 12 and 16 of the seat frame are interlaced web strips 25 and 26 preferably of flexible water and corrosion resistant woven materials. Similar web strips 27 are spanned between the side portions 19 of the back frame 11 adjacent the tops of said portions.

From Fig. 3 it will be noted that by the weight of the user, the seat of the chair is depressed against the spring resistance of the roundings 15 of the side portions of the seat frame 10, the extent of such depression being limited ordinarily by contact of the rear cross member 12 of said frame with the ground. As a result, the seat and back of the chair are rearwardly tilted at a suitable angle to comfortably support the user in a semi-reclining position either in a sitting posture as shown in full lines, with the knees elevated, or with the legs outstretched as shown in broken lines and the knees supported from beneath by the seat webbing 25, 26 adjacent the frontal cross bar 16. Due to being low, the chair resists being easily tilted or upset laterally. Moreover, by virtue of extension of the runners 14 rearwardly beyond the cross member 12 of seat frame 10, the chair also effectively resists being upset backwardly. Nevertheless if desired, the user may rock in the chair as shown in Fig. 6 with the runners 14 flexing during the rearward movements and assisting the forward movements of the user by their spring action at 15, the rear end of the seat and the lower end of the back being so shaped and dimensioned as to clear the runners during the rearward movement-s by reason of the rearward divergency of said runners. It is to be further noted from Fig. 3 that the cross member 18 of the chair back is maintained in engagement with the clips 24 on the rear cross member 12 of the seat frame by the weight pressure of the user against the webbing 27 at a distance well above the pivotal connections 21. As a consequence, the chair cannot accidentally collapse of itself while in use.

Special attention is directed to Fig. 2 from which it will be observed that the angularity between the side portions 13 of the chair frame and the runners 14 is such that the cross bars 12 and 18 are normally disposed at an elevation substantially midway between said runners and the tops of the roundings 15. As a consequence, the weight of the user, when seated in the chair as in Fig. 3, is transmitted through the roundings 15 to the runners 14 in such a way that the latter bear upon the sand with uniform pressure throughout their lengths. If the cross bars 12 and 18 were relegated to a level lower than shown in Fig. 2, the forward ends of the runners 14 would sink into the sand and their rear ends would rise when the chair is in use due to compression of the radii at 15. On the other hand, if the angle between the portions 13 and the runners 14 were made such that the level of the cross bars 12 and 18 would be higher than as shown in Fig. 2, then the rear ends of the runners would have the tendency to sink into the sand and their front ends to rise, due to action of the portions 13 as levers. Accordingly, with the parts proportioned and arranged as shown in Fig. 2, the runners 15 will bear with the equal pressure at every point upon the sand when the chair is in use, with minimization of the tendency to sink therein.

The chair can be collapsed either as shown in Fig. 4, or as shown in Fig. 5. In the first of these instances, the back frame 11 is first swung clockwise about the pivots 21 to clear cross member 18 of said frame from the clips 24, whereupon the pivoting is transferred to the pivots 22 and the links swung clockwise until the back rests upon the seat. In the second instance the back frame is likewise first moved clockwise about the pivots 21, and the frame thereafter moved counter-clockwise about the pivots 22 and the links thereupon moved counter-clockwise until said frame rests against the seat frame;

My chair is not to be considered as restricted to use on beaches since it can be employed as well on lawns, or even indoors, as for example, by persons who prefer to view television from the floor level. Furthermore, it is to be understood that I do not consider myself restricted to the use of webbing for the chair seat and back since obviously canvas or other flexible material can be substituted, nor to the precise details of construction and arrangement herein shown by way of illustration since these are subject to considerable variation within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a collapsible beach chair, a seat frame formed integrally from a single length of bar metal with a cross portion at the rear, and forwardly extending side portions with downward and rearward retroversions in continuation of said side portions for service as supporting runners, said runners being rearwardly divergent to permit the cross portions to pass down between them under the weight of the user of the chair; a U-shaped back frame likewise integrally formed from a length of bar metal; webbing spanned between the side portions of the seat frame and between the side portions of the back frame; and means connecting the back frame to the seat frame with capacity for being folded down upon said seat frame, wherein the connecting means comprises brace links whereof the opposite ends are pivotally connected respectively to the side portions of the seat and back frames substantially at equal distances from the cross portions of said frames; and wherein clips extending rearward from the cross portion of the seat frame receive the cross portion of the back frame for maintenance of the latter frame upright during use of the chair.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 595,476 Heller Dec. 14, 1897 597,665 Andren Jan. 18, 1898 1,366,506 Shattuck Jan. 25, 1921 1,555,526 Smith Sept. 29, 1925 2,254,684 Ivey Sept. 2, 1941 2,561,886 Rikelman July 24, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 336,012 Great Britain -5. Oct. 9, 1930 656,997 Germany Feb. 19, 1938 809,855 France Dec. 19, 1936 1,030,298 France Mar. 11, 1953 

